Railroad-tie plate.



J. CONNOR, T. 0. CARTER Ga A. RAY.

RAILROAD TIB PLATE. APPLICATION FILED DBO. 12, 1908.

Patented Alm-20, 1909.

WTNESSES f i c f Cl, f

0.,' wAs mar UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES CONNOR, THOMAS O. CARTER, AND ALBERT RAY, OF BARSTOW, CALIFORNIA.

RAILROAD-TIE PLATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 12, 1908.

Patented April 20, 1909.

Serial No. 467,124.

VTo all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES CONNOR, THOMAS O. CARTER, and ALBERT RAY, citizens oi the United States, residing at Barstow, in the county of San Bernardino and State ot California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad- Tie Plates, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means for securing railroad rails to the cross ties ofthe track, in which a tie plate which forms a seat or bearing for the rail is interposed between the base of the rail and the cross tie and is provided on its under side with tapered ribs which bury into the tie.

The object of the invention is to secure a firm connection between the rail and tie which shall be free from all tendency to work loose or rattle, by a simple, cheap and practical construction and to provide for the accommodation of rails of varying cross sections and weights, thus making the tie plate universal in its application.

The invention consists in the novel construct-ion of the tie plate as will be hereinafter more fully described with reference to the drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a top plan view ot' the antirattle tie plate, Fig. 2 an underneath view ot' the same, Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section taken on line 3 3 of Fig. l and showing the same applied to a railroad tie, and indicating in dotted lines the position of the rail and spikes, and Fig. 4 is a section through the plate, taken on line i-4 of Fig. 1.

ln the drawing A represents the plate, which for standard sizes is about 6 by l() inches. This pla-te is made thicker on the outer side, next to the end of the tie, and tapers to an increasing thinness toward the middle of the tie. On its thicker side it is formed with an overhanging lip or Vflange B of uniform cross section extending the full width of the plate. This lip is designed to lap over one side ot the base of the rail and on this thicker side, just outside the lip or `iiange B, the plate is formed with one or more holes D for one or more spikes. On the other side of the position of the rail the plate is formed with a plurality of sets of spike holes Dl D1, D2 D2 and D3 D3. The holes D1 D1 are spaced away from the iiange B a distance adapted to coincide with the opposite side of the rail base for the smallest size of rail R,indicated in dotted lines. The

holes D2 D2 are adapted to take the rail base ot the next larger size of rail, and the holes D3 D3 are adapted to take a still larger size of rail base, it being understood that when the spikes are driven through either of these sets of holes the spikes will engage with and overhang and secure these different sizes ot' rails, such as seventy-tive pound rails, eighty-five pound rails, or ninety iive pound rails. These sets of holes may be increased or diminished to correspond to any size or weight of rail. The upper face of the plate which receives the base of the rail is made slightly inclined, dipping toward the center of the tie, for the purpose hereafter described and this portion of the face of the plate is provided with any desired number of parallel grooves a a for the purpose of reducing the weight of the plate.

On the under side the plate is formed with straight ribs C C1 C, oi' uniform cross section. These ribs have sharp edges, as seen in Fig. fi, and the outer ones C C are of a slightly greater vertical depth than the middle one C1. The outer ribs are arranged at a reverse inclination to each other and are at a greater distance apart at the outer end of the plate bearing lip B or the end next to the end ci the tie, than they are at their inner ends, They are both arranged at an equal angle to the middle rib and are spaced an equal distance apart from the same and form wedge shaped spaces between the same, the wide end oi' said spaces being next to the outer end of the tie, or the end oil the plate which carries the lip or :[iange B.

In applying the plate it is laid longitudinally upon the top oi' the tie with the flange B next to the outer end oi the tie and the plate is hammered or pressed down to the tie, so that the ribs C Cl C bury in the grain o'il the wood in approximately longitudinal position to the grain, causing the wood of the tie to enter the convergent spaces between the ribs like wedges and these wedge shaped portions oi the wood oi' the tie entering between the ribs are in such relation to the ribs that any pressure of the plate outwardly, 'from the tendency of the rails to spread, is opposed by the wedging action of the enibedded wood between the ribs while any reverse movement oi the plate toward the center of the tie is opposed by a like wedging action 0i the wood outside oi' the outer ribs. This makes the tie plate cling to the wood of the tie with a tightening effect as against movement of the rail transversely to its length, making a very firm connection between the rail and the tie and preventing all looseness and tendency to rattle.

By making the upper surface of the tie plate inclined, getting thinner toward the inner edge, the rails R are canted inwardly a little toward the middle of the track to resist spreading action, while on curves the thick side of the plate may be put on the outside of the curve for each rail, thus causing centrifugal action of the cars in turning the curve to have a tendency to force the rails up to a tighter engagement beneath the strong overhanging lip B. There is also an important correlated effect between this inclined upper surface of the plate and the plurality of sets of spike holes Dl D2 D3. rlfhat is to say, when a heavier weight of rail is used, the center line of the rail drops a little lower on the plate owing to the incline, so that the heads of rails of different weights are held at practically the saine elevation, and this is due to the combined eflect of the incline and the plurality of spaced spike openings for taking di'fi'erent widths of rail base.

rllhe plural sets of spike openings are arranged in staggered relation to avoid lines of weakness and the extension of the ribs C Cl C past all of the. sets of holes reinforces the plate at this point and relieves it of any weakness that might otherwise exist from a multiplication of spike holes. rThat this may be better understood, it will be seen from Fig. 2, that one of the holes D, D2, D, of each pair through the plate is on one side of the convergent ribs and the other hole of each pair is on the other side of the convergent ribs and the ribs extend through and between the two groups to a point beyond the sanne, so that the bending or breaking of the plate on a line parallel with the rail through any pair of holes, as D1 D1, D2 D2, or D3 D3, is prevented by the reinforcing effect of the ribs. lt will be seen that as there are two holes for each width of rail and a plu rality of such pairs, the plate would be weakened against the depression of the rail under the weight of the train were the plate not reinforced past and through the groups of spike holes.

ln making use of the invention, it is to be understood that the plate may be made of any size and adapted to carry any number of dilerent weights of rail and the thickness and proportion of parts may be varied without departing from the invention as set 'forth in the claims.

We claim,-

1. A railroad tie plate having on its upper surface an overhanging lip at one side, said plate being made with an inclined upper face and decreasing thickness from said lip toward. the other side and having along this thinner side a plurality of pairs of spike holes, each pair being spaced a different distance from the overhanging lip to correspond to the different widths of rail bases of di''erent weights of rails, and ribs to engage the tie formed upon the lower side of the plate and extending between the spike holes of each pair and entirely past the plural pairs of spike holes, said ribs being straight and converging toward' each other between the spike holes of each pair and of uniforin cross section with sharp lower edges adapted to bury into the wood of the tie and hold with a wedging effect.

2. A railroad tie plate having on its upper surface an overhanging lip on one side and formed on its lower side with sharp ribs inclined to each other, said ribs being widest apart at the side of the plate which bears the lip and converging therefrom inwardly, and said plate having a plurality of pairs of spike holes arranged at varying distances from the overhanging lip and each pair having its two holes on opposite sides of the converging ends of the ribs.

ln testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES CONNOR.

THOMAS O. CARTE li ALBERT RAY. Witnesses W. R. MOBILE, T. CONNOR. 

